Converting to B&W, CS3 redeux !!!

[Jack Flesher]

Okay, been playing with the new CS3 beta and it has a very cool B&W conversion tool! It uses a new adjustment layer specially designed for B&W conversions. (Adjustment layers are great to work with because they are non-destructive to the original image -- IOW you can go back and change edits endlessly without altering your original file.)

This tool uses sliders much like the Channel mixer method described in the other thread here. (To be clear, the normal channel mixer is also a non-destructive adjustment layer.) However, it improves it significantly in one very handy area: When you activate the B&W layer, your default tool is the dropper. You can click on any grayscale tone in your image and drag left for darker or right for lighter! The slider or sliders corresponding to the color(s) on the underlying image you selected automatically track up or down as you work directly on the image. You can also save any of your slider settings as pre-sets to simply call up on future images. There are of course a handfull of Adobe presets for basic filters and efects. IMO this is a VERY cool new feature for anyone who wants to work in B&W and work directly on the image as opposed to indirectly by sliders

It should not be confused with dodging and burning since it affects the image globally, adjusting all of the tones within the range specified of your original sample color. Of course you can still dodge or burn locally as desired after these global adjustments. (FTR I dodge and burn on a 50% gray overlay layer as this is a non-destructive process too. If anybody needs more detail on how to do this, I can explain in another post.)

Cheers,

[Marko]

(FTR I dodge and burn on a 50% gray overlay layer as this is a non-destructive process too. If anybody needs more detail on how to do this, I can explain in another post.)

Please do. There are many ways to do it and it might be interesting to compare notes in a dedicated thread.

[Brian Ellis]

Please do. There are many ways to do it and it might be interesting to compare notes in a dedicated thread.

Since Jack hasn't responded, I think the method he's talking about is the same one I use. It goes as follows:

Layer > New
Assign a name such as "burn" to the new layer if you want to.
Select "soft light" from the drop down menu in the window that will appear
Check the box in the lower left-hand corner of the window that says something about 50% gray and hit ok.
Strike the "D" key on your keyboard to make black your default color.
Select a soft brush or an air brush from the brushes menu at whatever size you like (obviously you can change the size later if you want).
Set "opacity" to 100 and set "flow" initially to something like 10 using the opacity and flow sliders at the top of the screen.

Use the brush to paint in the areas you want to burn. You can vary the size of the brush to best fit the size of the area and you can vary the degree of burn by changing the flow %.

As you mention, there are several different ways to make non-destructive burns. I like this one for small areas. For larger areas I prefer the "history - snapshot" method, for no particular reason except it's the method that I first learned (and since it doesn't involve creation of a new layer it may save some file space though I'm not sure of that, the snapshot may use as much space as a new layer would).

And of course if this isn't the method Jack was talking about he can correct this one.

[Mike Boden]

Please do. There are many ways to do it and it might be interesting to compare notes in a dedicated thread.

This is definitely the smart way to do dodging and burning. So...

1. CREATE NEW LAYER. In the pop-up dialog box, change the Mode to "Overlay", then check the box at the bottom that says, "Fill with Overlay-neutral color (50% gray).

2. On this new layer, paint with a standard brush or air-brush with black or white. The image will become darker where you've painted with black and lighter where you've painted with white.

That's it in a nutshell. But here are a few additional tips:

1. You can vary the transparency of either the brush or the layer itself to change the intensity of the dodge/burn.

2. Keep in mind that with "Overlay", this won't have any affect on pure black (0,0,0) or pure white pixels (255,255,255). So if you need to affect these, you'll need to adjust them first.

3. The Mode doesn't have to be "Overlay". You can also use Soft Light or Hard Light as well. Just play around and see how they affect the image differently. This can easily be done even after the Layer has been created and after you've done some work on it.

4. Aside from painting with a brush, you also use Gradients with black or white. This helps by dodging/burning the edges and corners or even circular/eliptical areas. Just keep in mind that you'll want to dodge and burn from black/white-to-transparency. You can select this in the menu bar after you've selected the Gradient tool.

5. Create new layers for dodging/burning for different areas of the image and so on. For example, if you want to burn the sky downwards, do this on one layer. Then if you need the top-left corner a little darker, do this on a separate layer. By doing it this way, you'll have much more control and can easily change or correct things.

Good luck and have fun!

[Kirk Gittings]

Sounds like a real alternative. I don't have the time to play with the beta PS3, but I appreciate your insights.

[Frank Petronio]

And please note that a Wacom tablet, while not absolutely necessary, is a really great tool for these techniques.

If you do get a Wacom you need to commit and force yourself to use it for a day -- and suddenly you'll adapt to it. For long time mouse users there is a lot to unlearn.

It also helps with repetitive motion issues even if you aren't a Photoshop nut.

[Mike Boden]

I second Frank's suggestion about a Wacom Tablet. For me, they're indispensable when it comes to spot/dust removal and anything that involves painting.

There are several different sizes to choose from and I'm not sure if the largest is the best. I bought the large one about six years ago, but the funny thing is that I re-mapped the coordinates of my monitor to a smaller footprint on the Tablet. This way, I can minimize my arm movement and simply move my hand around when spotting. If I'm doing a lot of painting with it, then the full-size Tablet helps. But....I rarely do a lot of painting. Works great!

[Jack Flesher]

Mike has spelled the method I use out very clearly, but a few miscellaneous points:

1) In addition to using different transparancies on the brushes, you can simply use differing shades of gray instead of black or white for the same effect. So FWIW, I find just selecting one of the 20 grayscale colors directly from the color swatch pallette is much faster and more easily repeatable than choosing a specific transparancy. Obviously the effect gets stronger as you approach full white or full black. Also, neutral gray (128/128/128) has no effect on the image but wil act like an eraser if used over darker or lighter brush strokes

2) You can apply a separate levels adjustment to this dodge/burn layer after you are done and "tweak" the overall effects by adjusting the endpoint and midpoint sliders

3) Finally, this same approach works equally well for color if used over a color image(!)

Cheers,

[paulr]

I use basically the same technique that Brian and Mike use, but I add a few steps for some more control. Instead of painting directly on the layer, I use paintbrushes (sometimes) and the gradient tool (most of the time) to create masks as separate alpha chanels. So I'll have a channel for everything I want to darken or lighten. They'll be named things like "bottom edge" or "top right corner" or "white car."

Then I use those masks to make a selection, and burn or dodge by using the brightness slider in Brightness/Contrast

Makes it real easy to go back and reduce or increase what I've done.

I find the burn dodge layer technique works well on everything except areas that are already very light. Its hard to add density to something doesn't have much to begin with. I'm curious to know how other people are dealing with this.

[Jack Flesher]

I find the burn dodge layer technique works well on everything except areas that are already very light. Its hard to add density to something doesn't have much to begin with. I'm curious to know how other people are dealing with this.

When all else fails, there is the actual burn tool where you can select "highlights" and apply the burn... I generally try and avoid using it, but sometimes it is the only viable solution. I do this directly on a separate copy layer (call it highlight burn) so it is correctable/adjustable. There is also the shadow/highlight adjustment tool. I generally try this before the above option, but use it identically on its own copy layer.

Cheers,